


Of Great Lords and Common Sense

by WordsFromAsh



Series: Chrobin Week 2015 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Slight fluff, class change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:18:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5374922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsFromAsh/pseuds/WordsFromAsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't use legendary relics as shields.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Great Lords and Common Sense

**Author's Note:**

> Chrobin Week 2015, Day 1: Class Change

               Being a high ranking official in the army meant Robin had duties she had to perform throughout the day. Which was fine. Understandable, of course. Expected. Except those duties did not include being fetched by Frederick in order to view Chrom’s new outfit.

               When she entered his tent, Chrom scrambled up from where he sat waiting for her. He stood before her with his arms out, shoulders squared proudly, and brows raised expectantly, waiting for her to say something.

               She leaned against the desk and crossed her arms over her chest. Tipping her head back, she assessed him. Her eyes flickered across his entire form, taking in all of the new details in his dress. His cape no longer tattered, but she knew after their next battle that would no longer be the case. His new armor shined in the sunlight that filtered into his tent. And he looked surprisingly symmetrical, all things considered. He looked strikingly _handsome_. Even so, she sighed and shook her head and prayed that a blush didn't reveal itself with that last thought.

               Immediately, Chrom’s self-assured attitude crumpled. His armor clinked together as his shoulders drooped. His eyes widened in disbelief. “What does that mean?” he said, his voice pulled into a whine.

               Robin almost smiled. Almost. Instead she unwound her arms from in front of her chest and pushed off of the desk. “It means no,” she said and approached him. Standing in front of him she crossed her arms again and was forced to stare up in order to meet his eyes.

               Chrom frowned, his brow crumpled into confusion. “I don’t think I asked you to approve of my outfit or not,” he mumbled and Robin could hear the pouting boy he once was.

              “So you requested my presence to show off that you got promoted to a Great Lord, hm? If you don’t remember, I was a part of the decision making of your promotion. Congratulations, by the way.” Even without a smile, her voice was thick with amusement.

               That flustered him. Pink tinged his cheeks and he stubbornly turned his head away from her, his eyes downcast. “No, that’s not why—I—well—“ He raised an arm to rub the back of his neck and held the decency to look sheepish with a small laugh and all.

               A smile did pull at the corner of Robin’s mouth now. “Uh-huh, that’s what I thought.” Her eyes caught the reason why she voiced her disapproval in the first place. She quirked one of her eyebrows at him even if he couldn’t see. “Just as you want to show off Ylisse’s most valued treasure to all our enemies?”

              His cheeks grew from pink to more of a red hue. Good, he knew his mistake then.

              “Chrom, do you know how foolish this is? What in your right mind would make you decide to wear the Fire Emblem when Em—we’ve been trying to protect it from Gangrel this whole time? And as a _shield_ no less.” Robin hoped that Chrom didn’t notice her near slip of mentioning Emmeryn. The topic was still too raw for herself to think of, she couldn’t imagine him being reminded of her. Especially when she used the memory of his late sister to take a dig against his own decisions.

              If he had heard her stumble over it, he made no notice of it. He mumbled something that she couldn’t quite make out. She leaned closer and hummed for him to repeat himself, feeling like she was reprimanding a child instead of her Captain and the crown Prince of a halidom.

              “It made sense at the time. Just let me keep it. I need a shield anyway. _You’re_ the one that always chastised me for not owning a shield in the first place.”

              “ _Chrom_ , you can’t be serious. Superior or not, I will not allow this. It’s just common _sense_. It’s-You- This isn’t what I meant and you know it. You don’t use legendary relics as shields.”

              He shook his head and she saw his fingers curl into a fist out of the corner of her eye. “You’re right. It _is_ common sense. Quit questioning it.” His voice was sharp like when he gave direct orders. She was to follow his demands, as his subordinate in the army, she knew that. As his friend, she knew she had to stand her ground and push him so that he’d see sense.

              “Chrom, don't you understand that you’re flaunting the Emblem for all to see? As your tactician, it’s my sworn duty to prevent as many casualties as possible,”—which, Robin thought, now evidently included inanimate objects—“What happens if the Emblem breaks in battle?”

              His jaw clenched and the muscles in his neck became more pronounced. What she said was a mistake and closed him off further from her. Robin backtracked and sifted her thoughts for another way to go about this.

              She thought to how he sat the Fire Emblem down without a second thought in the desert as an offering to Gangrel for his sister’s life pardoned and her return. She thought to how he cried into the crook of her neck afterwards because he’d left Emmeryn’s body in Plegia and nearly left the Fire Emblem as well if it hadn’t been for Robin scooping it up during their retreat. She thought to how she’d catch him cleaning it before she’d rap on the canvas of his tent to announce her presence on evenings they’d spend together talking. And while her brain clicked the pieces into place, her stomach sank at the realization.

             She called his name again. When he refused to turn to her still, she held his chin with the tip of her fingers in order to gently guide his attention to her. His skin was warm beneath her touch and slight stubble scratched at her fingertips. She kept her eyes on his even as his trailed back to the floor, to the Emblem hanging from his arm.

             “This isn’t about having a shield at all, is it?”

             His chin fell to rest more weight in her hand and his eyes stayed steady on the dirt floor of the tent. Robin’s body tensed at the action, not sure of what to do next. A part of her wanted to seize her hand away and tuck it back at her side. Another wanted for her to keep her hand there and comfort him. Her mind jumped through what to say to him, but her thoughts scrambled away from her. Her lips parted on several accounts to start a motivational speech for him, but found only silence every time.

             “I’m not fit to lead, Robin,” Chrom whispered. But she felt the movement of his words against her fingers, felt his breath skim the side of her hand.

             She shook her head. “Of course you are.”

            “No.” The word was sharp and rough. His eyes shot up to pin her with anger.

             On instinct, Robin’s hand recoiled at the complete change of attitude. When she said nothing he continued, the anger boiled down to a hot simmer, “I’m not Emmeryn, Robin. You even realize that, don’t you? Emmeryn wouldn’t have given up the Fire Emblem so easily. Emmeryn would have known what to do back in Plegia. Even with her life threatened she _still_ knew the right thing to do. She… she…”

             Robin averted her eyes when she saw his first tear fall. Of course, she’d witnessed plenty from him. Enough to turn Plegia’s deserts into fertile soil. Even so, he deserved some privacy for his emotions. “And so did you.”

             “I almost lost the Fire Emblem _and_ Emmeryn because I’m foolish. If it wasn’t for _you_ we’d have neither,” Chrom said with softer conviction.

             Robin ignored that last comment. If it wasn’t for her, then Emmeryn would still be alive and this conversation would be null. She bit the inside of her lip to restrain herself from going too far down that path. Not now, maybe never.

             “Emmeryn was the symbol of peace for Ylisse. Even in the end, she tried to bring that peace to Plegia. And what am I? I threw the first strike back on the border at Themis. I helped create this war, not prevent it like Emmeryn so desperately wanted.”—Robin looked up at him with that, ready to argue on his behalf but he silenced her—“Let me finish. I’m not the ideal of peace like my sister, but I realize what she meant now and wish to return our people to lives of peace.

             I thought, maybe, if I wore the Emblem for all to see, it would remind them what we fight for. That if I couldn’t be the symbol of peace to them,” Chrom moved his arm with the Emblem attached to it “then at least this could. I’m sorry, I didn’t think ahead as to what other consequences would arise from ‘flaunting it’ as you say.” He closed his eyes briefly.

             Robin took a large breath of air to stall for time while she processed all he said. Sifting through all the options, she finally decided and let out a long staggered sigh and rubbed her temple with one hand. “While I still don’t fully condone of wearing it as a mere _shield_ and as flawed as your logic may be—your people think higher of you than that, _I_ think highly of you—I can… concede and allow you to wear it to battle as long as you remember you still need to protect it and not the other way around.” She tried to ignore the look of surprise on his face at the realization of what she meant. She pointed at him and gently prodded his cold breastplate. “You still do not use legendary relics as a shield, you hear?”

             “O-of course!” A wide smile broke across his face and his shoulders straightened back, not to the proud display they were when she walked in, but they at least did not wilt before her any longer.

             Robin pulled her hand back and ran it through her hair and found the corners of her mouth lift into a smile at the scene, glad to have her Chrom back. Plus she still had her last card to play. Her voice heavy with amusement as she said, “Besides, even if you’ve convinced me to let it stay, I don’t see how you’ll convince Frederick to allow this. I don’t think even _I_ could make him see otherwise.”

             Instead of the dread that always caught Chrom’s expression at the mention of convincing Frederick of one thing or another, Chrom's smile grew wider and broke into a laugh that bubbled joyfully. “Why do you think I’ve got both sleeves?” He moved his right arm that was normally bare and displayed a heavy tan and the mark of Naga.

             Robin raised her brows at that. She had noticed the unusual sight during her initial inspection of his new getup. While she wanted to tease the man about it, it quickly lost priorities in her mind. She quickly averted her gaze back at Chrom, her own eyes wide, not willing to believe the insinuation. “You don’t mean…”

            Chrom’s lips pulled back to reveal his teeth, white and straight, perfecting the look of a charismatic leader. “He gave up fighting me on the subject and agreed to let me keep the Fire Emblem if I would at least cover up Naga’s mark from enemy’s prying eyes.” He laughed again. “I think he counted on _you_ to talk me out of it.”


End file.
